“He was always a class act and a super person,” Roberts, a former basketball coach at East Detroit, said of the star player and pupil. “I’ve known his whole family for years and years. There was never any problem, because he was absolutely super.”

Roberts was at a packed Ford gymnasium Monday night, beaming like a proud father as Jim Barker, who played guard for Roberts’ Shamrocks a half-century ago, was honored.

The Ford floor was named Coach Barker Court in honor of the man who started the Falcons program in 1972 and coached the team for 32 years while winning 12 league championships, 11 district titles and two regional crowns.

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“Definitely,” Roberts said when asked if he saw coaching traits in a teenage Barker all those years ago.

“He was like a coach on the floor,” Roberts said. “He was the point guard. He always knew what we needed to be doing, on offense or defense. I never had to tell him things twice.”

Barker coached at St. Clement and Parkway Christian after leaving Ford following the 2003-04 season.

His first St. Clement team won a Catholic League tournament championship and, after the school closed, he went to a pair of state semifinal games with Parkway Christian.

But it was at Ford where Barker left the most indelible marks, where he taught for years and raised the Falcons from infancy to one of the dominant programs in Macomb County.

The ceremony to honor Barker and dedicate the floor named for him took place between girls and boys games matching Ford and Utica school-district rival Eisenhower.

About 60 former Falcons players, including Andy Brodi, the 1992 county Player of the Year; Jeremy Denha, currently the basketball coach at West Bloomfield, and Craig Krenzel, who gained national notoriety as the quarterback for Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team, formed a half-circle around Barker during the ceremony.

Salutes of Barker were given by the likes of Utica superintendent Christine M. Johns; Matt Joseph, the Ford girls coach who was a member of the court dedication committee, and Brodi.

“Thank you,” Brodi said as spokesman for the former players, “for being the man you were and are, for showing us how to be the men we wanted to be.

“You molded us since we were 10 years old. You taught us about respect. Thank you for the wins, the laughs, the great moments.”

Barker, who won more than 500 games at Ford, and 601 games and four regional championships for his career, including his stays at St. Clement and Parkway Christian, thanked his family, former players and the Utica administration, among others, for the honor.

“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “This is much more than I ever anticipated.”

Barker called his wife, Delphine, his high school sweetheart whom Barker married in November 1965, “the head coach of my family.”

“She let me do my thing here at Ford High School,” Barker said. “She is the best coach’s wife you could imagine.”

The Barkers’ children, sons Scott and Jeff, and daughter Jessica, also attended the ceremony.

“I’m grateful for all the people who turned out tonight,” Delphine Barker said. “It’s incredible. To have the floor named after him – that’s forever. It’s very special.”

Barker, 69, said he has been approached by schools asking if he would return to coaching.

“I miss it,” Barker said. “I still feel real good. I could still do it.”

But he won’t.

“This is it,” Barker said. “This is the closure of my career. This is my last hurrah with basketball.

“I loved practicing. I loved going to practice every day. I enjoyed working with the kids. This was like my home.”

“You always remember the tough losses more than anything else,” he said.

Barker mentioned one at Lake Orion that cost the Falcons an Oakland A league championship, and one in the 1977 state tournament against Brother Rice, which would eventually play Magic Johnson’s Lansing Everett team in the Class A state championship game.

“I can remember the first district championship, when we beat Sterling Heights,” said Barker, who also mentioned a victory over Clawson in an Oakland A tournament game after the Falcons fell behind by more than 20 points.

Early in his career, Barker wanted the Falcons program to elevate to levels enjoyed by the likes of Stevenson and Sterling Heights.

Ford pushed on, and under Barker won the county Team of the Year award six times. Meanwhile, Barker was named the county Coach of the Year five times, including four during his tenure at Ford.

“We always pushed ‘program,’” Barker said. “Some of those (former players) here tonight weren’t stars. Some of them were the 11th, 12th man on the roster. But we treated them with respect. They all had a role.

“These kids made me enjoy my life. They made me a better person.

“We did some good things here We accomplished a lot. I’m proud of that.”